Compulsion (2017)

Directed by: Ángel González | 71 minutes | crime, horror | Actors: Susana Abaitua, Pol Cardona, Marina Esteve, Paco Manzanedo

Usually she is a student, dressed in student clothes. But sometimes you have to put bread on the table. She puts on a deadly red dress, makes herself beautiful and hires herself out as an escort from the more luxurious segment. All goes well, until one of her regular customers asks her to a special place. That special place is a secluded mansion. And in that special place the client of our escort has special plans. Horror plans.

In the Spanish horror thriller ‘Compulsión’ it is less about this escort and her client than about the client’s girlfriend. When she finds out that her boyfriend is going out with a beautiful girl in a deadly red dress, she springs into action. She chases the couple to the mansion. And then…

And what happens next is not hard to guess. ‘Compulsión’ follows the beaten track of the classic horror thriller in form, style, music and action. So a few scares, music that manipulates the viewer, a lot of blood and a story that consists of a sequence of being trapped and escaping. No character development and no surprises. Almost no surprises.

Due to the lack of surprises and the excess of clichés, ‘Compulsión’ will turn out to be a long sit for many viewers, despite the narrow 70 minutes. A bit of humor would have helped but the film takes itself completely seriously. You don’t really listen to the music, a kind of wobbly synthesizer burps, for pleasure.

What’s left is the nice acting, with the above-average attractive female characters as a bonus. You also eventually want to know how this all ends (and the finale turns out to be the strongest part of the film). Yet you are left with the idea that this is a five-minute plot that has been stretched to feature film length. Not recommended, but not a waste of time either. Somewhere in between.